1912 

The  -<,£/p^rM  ^r-;-'^ 

ESSENTIALS  OF  LIBERAL  EDUCATION 


THE  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

OF 

JOHN  GRIER  HIBBEN 

PRESIDENT  PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 


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MAYV>,21! 


OFFICIAL  REGISTER 

OF 

PRINCETON     UNIVERSITY 


VOLUME  III  MAY  11.  1912  NUMBER  13 

The 

ESSENTIALS  OF  LIBERAL  EDUCATION 


THE  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

OF 
JOHN  GRIER  HIBBEN 

PRESIDENT  PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 

MAY  11,   1912 


Published  by  Princeton  University 

PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY 

1912 


In  entering  fomially  uix)n  the  duties  of  the  high 
office  of  President  of  Princeton  University  I  wish  to 
present  in  my  inaugural  address  the  essential  princi- 
ples of  our  philosophy  of  education.  We  believe  that 
the  chief  end  of  an  education  is  the  making  of  a  man. 
It  is  the  process  of  developing  a  power  within  which 
enables  the  human  being  to  dominate  the  instincts  and 
habits  of  his  animal  nature,  assert  himself  as  a  free 
personality,  and  direct  his  life  according  to  the  light 
of  reason.  While  he  is  a  part  of  the  natural  world, 
man  belongs  also  to  the  world  of  mind  and  of  spirit. 
The  particular  function  of  education  is  to  give  him  the 
power  of  freedom  and  to  make  him  sensible  of  the 
duties,  and  worthy  the  privileges  of  a  person  in  the 
midst  of  a  universe  of  things. 

Personality,  however,  is  not  mechanically  formed 
from  without,  but  must  be  evoked  from  within.  The 
appeal  of  the  teacher  therefore  is  constantly  directed 
to  the  inner  spirit  of  the  student,  that  spirit  of  life 
which  informs  the  man  and  puts  him  into  possession 
of  his  powers.  The  forces  which  find  play  in  the  ac- 
tivities of  the  mind  are  like  the  architectonic  principle 
which  is  at  work  in  the  inner  nature  of  a  plant,  fash- 
ioning it  into  the  form  of  grace  and  beauty.  Thus 
with  the  emancipation  of  a  free  spirit  at  the  sources  of 
his  being,  the  man  within  begins  to  develop  both  in 
power  and  in  promise. 

It  is  of  the  very  nature  of  education,  however,  that  it 

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does  not  result  in  a  complete  and  finished  product,  but 
rather  in  a  progressive  process.  There  is  nothing  final 
about  it.  Its  achievements  always  mark  new  begin- 
nings. It  is  the  power  of  an  endless  life.  To  say  that 
a  man  is  educated  signifies  that  he  has  finished  merely 
the  preliminary  stages  of  a  continuous  and  progressive 
development.  Education,  therefore,  must  always  be 
defined  in  terms  of  life,  of  growth,  of  progress.  Its 
peculiar  function  is  the  conservation  of  those  great 
human  forces  which  make  for  the  advancement  of 
knowledge  and  the  civiHzation  of  the  world.  We  hear 
much  to-day  of  the  conservation  of  our  national  re- 
sources, our  forests,  the  treasures  of  our  mines,  and 
the  vast  material  wealth  of  our  land.  But  while  we 
are  emphasizing  the  necessity  of  a  national  economy, 
we  should  not  overlook  the  fact  that  the  task  of  con- 
serving and  of  developing  the  resources  of  the  intel- 
lectual, moral  and  spiritual  power  in  our  nation  is  the 
one  supreme  task.  To  conserve  these  powers,  to  cause 
them  to  develop  and  to  prevail,  to  deliver  free  spirits 
from  the  bondage  of  ignorance  and  of  material  im- 
pulse, from  the  bondage  of  authority,  of  tradition,  of 
public  opinion,  of  passing  fashion  and  of  prejudice, 
and  to  direct  these  liberated  human  forces  to  the  high- 
est ends,  that  is  the  art  of  education. 

There  is  a  common  phrase,  ''to  receive  an  educa- 
tion," against  which  I  would  most  emphatically  pro- 
test. No  one  receives  an  education  any  more  than  he 
receives  health,  or  strength,  or  life.  It  is  the  fruit  of 
a  firm  and  intelligent  will.     It  is  gained  only  by  active 


effort,  continuous  and  determined.  An  education  is 
won  by  work ;  and  the  labors  to  be  undertaken  and  the 
end  to  be  attained  may  all  be  summed  up  in  the  com-/ 
mand — be  a  person.  This  is  a  command  which  is  not 
merely  the  word  of  the  teacher,  but  is  essentially  an 
inner  compulsion  possessing  the  solemn  authority  of 
self-legislation.  It  is  the  determination  to  be  some- 
thing more  than  a  creature  of  circumstance ;  it  is  the 
purpose  to  realize  in  the  full  measure  of  one's  possibil- 
ities the  power  and  the  dignity  of  humanity.  While 
plant  and  animal  develop  according  to  the  power  which 
they  may  possess  of  adapting  themselves  to  their  en- 
vironment, it  is  the  distinctive  characteristic  of  man 
that  he  progresses  through  his  ability  to  adapt  his 
environment  to  himself,  and  thus  he  determines  the 
world  in  which  he  lives. 

As  freedom  is  the  distinctive  mark  of  a  vigorous 
personality,  all  the  processes  of  education  must  be 
directed  to  secure  this  essential  end.  Therefore,  the 
ideal  university  education  may  be  described  as  consist- 
ing of  two  phases, — a  phase  in  which  every  effort  is 
directed  to  the  attainment  of  freedom,  and  secondly  a 
progressive  phase  of  development  in  which  the  free- 
dom gained  in  the  earlier  stages  finds  for  itself  varied 
pursuits  and  pleasures  in  the  fields  of  knowledge. 

It  would  seem  essential,  therefore,  that  in  the  early 
years  of  one's  university  experience  those  studies 
should  be  pursued  which  are  peculiarly  conducive  to 
the  discipline  and  training  of  the  mind,  and  eventually 
to  the  evolution  of  a  self-determining  and  self-realiz- 


ing  will.  They  deserve  the  name  of  liberal  studies  so 
far  as  they  may  tend  to  free  the  mind  from  the  natural 
and  artificial  obstacles  to  its  progressive  development. 

One  who  is  to  maintain  the  health  and  growth  of 
his  intellectual  life  must  come,  however,  at  some  later 
period  in  his  development  to  delight  in  the  tasks  of  the 
intellect.  To  rejoice  in  the  labors  of  the  mind  is  not 
a  prevailing  characteristic  of  the  natural  man.  As 
Aristotle  has  put  it,  'all  men  naturally  desire  knowl- 
edge, but  not  all  men  desire  the  labor  of  learning.'  It 
often  happens,  however,  in  intellectual  discipline  as  in 
the  development  of  moral  virility,  that  a  course  of 
action  which  is  done  for  a  time  under  the  stress  of  a 
sense  of  obligation  and  as  a  grievous  duty,  becomes 
after  a  time  a  pleasure  and  a  joy.  Just  as  it  is  possible 
to  grow  into  an  enthusiasm  for  that  which  is  right 
and  honorable  and  of  good  report,  so  also  it  is  possible 
by  the  discipline  of  one's  intellectual  powers  to  develop 
an  enthusiasm  for  the  activities  and  pursuits  of  the 
mind. 

The  practical  problem,  therefore,  for  the  teacher, 
and  particularly  for  a  faculty  of  teachers,  is  to  choose 
that  body  of  studies  which  will  best  produce  a  spirit  of 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  knowledge  and  of  joy  in  its 
service.  Any  satisfactory  solution  of  this  problem 
must  rest  upon  the  basal  principle  that  true  intellectual 
freedom  is  gained  only  through  discipline.  If  there 
is  to  be  intellectual  power  in  the  world  it  must  be  the 
power  of  a  free  spirit;  and  the  power  of  a  free  spirit 
in   turn    can    arise   only   out   of   a   spirit   of   docility. 


To  this  doctrine,  however,  there  are  many  who  would 
enter  a  most  emphatic  dissent.  They  very  stoutly  in- 
sist that  there  should  be  no  body  of  required  studies 
whatsoever  in  a  university,  but  that  each  student  should 
follow  his  own  free  choice  in  selecting  the  particular 
subjects  he  may  be  pleased  to  pursue  and  that  such  ini- 
tial exercise  of  freedom  is  itself  the  best  training  for  the 
wise  uses  of  freedom  in  general.  It  is  a  very  serious 
question,  however,  whether  the  freedom  of  an  ignorant 
and  undisciplined  mind  may  not  come  to  defeat  its  own 
ends  and  purposes. 

In  Princeton  we  have  very  positive  convictions  on 
this  point.  We  believe  that  the  teaching  body  of  a 
university  should  select  a  consistent  group  of  required 
studies  for  the  express  purpose  of  developing  in  the 
student  to  the  highest  degree  of  efficiency  the  free 
powers  of  his  intellectual  life.  We  believe  that  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  have  a  certain  schooling  in  pre- 
paration for  the  responsibilities  of  freedom;  and  that 
the  hit  and  miss  choice  of  an  immature  mind  in  new 
and  strange  surroundings,  the  blind  groping  for  truth 
by  the  process  of  trial  and  error,  form  a  poor  pro- 
paedeutic to  the  serious  tasks  of  free  investigation, 
of  original  thought  and  of  practical  efficiency.  We 
believe,  moreover,  that  the  best  i)reparation  for  the 
freedom  of  the  life  of  reason  is  that  group  of  studies 
whose  very  nature  tends  to  the  training  of  the  powers 
of  the  mind,  developing  in  a  man  both  capability  and 
resource,  and  at  the  same  time  giving  him  a  knowledge 
of  himself  and  of  the  world  in  which  he  lives. 


Such  studies  are  humanistic  so  far  as  they  give  a 
man  a  knowledge  of  the  human  setting  of  his  life,  and 
create  within  the  deep  places  of  his  being  a  universal 
interest  and  sympathy  in  humanity  in  whatever  sphere 
it  may  manifest  itself.  They  put  him  in  possession  of 
the  race  experience  so  that  in  his  own  mind  he  may 
hold  the  treasures  of  the  world.  Therefore  he  must 
be  so  led  in  the  way  of  knowledge  that  he  will  come  to 
know  something  of  the  human  world  in  which  he  lives, 
something  also  of  the  world  of  the  past  whose  achieve- 
ments are  his  heritage,  something  of  the  form  and 
spirit  of  its  classical  languages  and  literature,  something 
of  its  history,  its  art,  customs,  manners,  morals  and  in- 
stitutions,— in  a  word,  he  must  know  the  thought  of 
tlie  world  which  possesses  universal  meaning  and  uni- 
versal significance.  There  are  indeed  certain  funda- 
mental ideas  which  we  may  securely  reckon  with  as 
constant  factors  in  the  equation  of  life.  I  do  not  for 
a  moment  believe  that  the  whole  world  of  knowledge 
is  composed  of  shifting  and  variable  elements,  so  that 
we  are  constrained  to  acknowledge  that  whatever  is 
true  to-day,  may  be  false  to-morrow.  On  the  contrary 
I  would  urge  with  all  the  emphasis  of  my  deepest  con- 
viction that  there  is  a  body  of  universal  truths,  in- 
dependent of  age  and  of  race,  which  vitally  concern  the 
ultimate  values  of  life  and  which  determine  the  possi- 
bilities of  human  development.  Such  truths  the 
scholar  must  command,  if  he  in  any  sense  is  to  com- 
mand the  world  in  which  he  lives. 

Not  only  the  luiman  world,  but   also  the  world  of 


nature  must  be  a  part  of  this  general  body  of  know- 
ledge. In  these  first  stages  of  education  the  study  of 
science  should  form  a  very  central  and  essential  part 
of  this  prescribed  course  of  study.  Pure  science  is  a 
liberal  study,  it  belongs  truly  to  the  humanities ;  for 
it  not  merely  gives  knowledge  of  facts,  it  does  more, 
it  is  a  training  in  habits  of  precision,  in  accuracy  of 
observation,  in  closely  articulated  modes  of  reasoning, 
m  devices  of  experimentation  and  in  an  appreciation  of 
the  valid  grounds  of  proof,  and  the  logical  basis  of 
correct  generalization.  A  study  of  scientific  method, 
and  of  the  history  of  scientific  attainment  is  in  itself 
a  course  in  inductive  logic,  which  tends  not  merely  to 
fill  the  mind  with  items  of  information,  but  to  expand 
it  as  well  by  an  increased  demand  upon  its  powers  of 
judgment  and  of  inference.  Princeton  has  been  at 
times  misunderstood  as  regards  her  attitude  to  science, 
and  upon  this  occasion  particularly  I  wish  to  state  dis- 
tinctly and  emphatically  and  in  words  which  give  no 
uncertain  sound,  that  we  regard  the  study  of  science 
as  essential  to  a  liberal  education.  So  firmly  grounded 
is  this  conviction  that  we  require  every  candidate  for 
the  Bachelor's  degree  to  pursue  some  one  course  at 
least  in  science.  Princeton,  which  was  the  first  college 
in  America  to  introduce  the  teaching  of  chemistry  in 
its  curriculum,  Princeton,  which  has  been  the  home  of 
Henry,  of  Guyot  and  of  Young,  hardly  needs  further 
to  defend  her  old  time  and  continued  interest  in  scien- 
tific discovery  and  scientific  attainment. 

Within   this  same  group  of  studies  also  there  should 


be  some  provision  for  a  training  in  the  accurate  and 
facile  mode  of  giving  expression  to  knowledge.  The 
ability  to  put  thought  into  appropriate  and  adequate 
form  essentially  characterizes  a  free  spirit  in  the  world 
of  mind.  To  see,  to  think,  to  feel,  and  to  remain  dumb 
withal, — is  any  bondage  more  intolerable?  Certainly 
the  educated  man  should  be  able  to  understand  his  own 
language  with  some  appreciation  of  its  power  and 
beauty,  be  able  also  to  speak  it  as  to  the  manor  born 
and  not  as  a  barbarian,  and  so  to  express  himself  by 
the  written  word  as  to  reveal  and  not  obscure  his 
thought  and  feeling.  He  alone  can  give  life  to  knowl- 
edge who  has  acquired  the  art  of  communicating  it 
to  others. 

At  this  early  stage  there  should  be  also  some  in- 
struction in  the  beginnings  of  logic  and  psychology,  at 
least  to  the  extent  of  leading  the  student  to  understand 
the  workings  of  his  own  mind  and  the  laws  which 
govern  the  processes  of  reason.  In  such  a  course  there 
must  emerge  some  comprehension  of  the  philosophical 
methods  employed  in  various  fields  of  investigation, 
of  the  relation  of  universal  laws  to  facts,  and  of  the 
nature  of  those  central  correlating  and  constructive 
ideas  which  in  every  sphere  of  thought  and  in  every 
complex  situation  give  a  key  to  the  solution  of  difficult 
and  perplexing  problems.  It  is  no  little  gain  in  the 
uses  of  knowledge  to  appreciate  the  significance  of 
universal  concepts,  and  to  grasp  the  import  of  that 
great  logical  idea  that  there  may  be  a  unity  in  variety 
and  an  identity  in  difiFerence.     In  my  own  experience  in 

10 


the  teaching  of  philosophy,  I  have  come  to  the  firm 
conviction  that  it  is  of  incalculable  advantage  to  the 
ordinary  student  to  know  something  of  the  nature  and 
the  range  of  the  main  philosophical  problems;  for  they 
are  indeed  the  problems  of  life  which  will  inevitably 
confront  him  in  his  own  thinking.  If  in  these  pre- 
liminary discussions  at  the  threshold  of  philosophy  the 
student  can  begin  to  develop  for  himself  some  interpre- 
tation of  life  as  a  whole,  he  has  gained  immeasurably 
in  the  possession  of  ideas  which  will  tend  to  unify  his 
thought  and  ground  his  conviction  through  all  the 
wide  extent  of  his  experience. 

Such  is  a  brief  description  of  the  body  of  studies 
which  should  engage  the  first  years  of  a  student  in  his 
university  career.  At  a  time  when  he  himself  is  learn- 
ing to  put  his  own  mind  in  order,  he  is  unconsciously 
reinforced  in  his  efforts,  if  he  finds  himself  daily  en- 
gaged with  a  consistent  group  of  studies  which  them- 
selves form  a  system.  A  systematic  mind  does  not 
develop  naturally  out  of  a  miscellany  of  intellectual 
interests  and  activities.  The  idea  of  system  and  of 
sy^ematic  organization  and  of  the  logical  correlation 
of  essential  parts  within  a  consistent  and  comprehen- 
sive whole  should  characterize  any  body  of  required 
studies  which  is  capable  of  justifying  itself.  Familiar- 
ity with  a  logical  group  of  studies  is  itself  a  schooling 
in  logic. 

After  this  early  period  of  required  studies,  the 
liberty  which  is  born  of  discipline  can  be  wisely  en- 
couraged   to   manifest    itself    in    the    free   choices   of 


II 


studies  for  the  remaining  years  of  the  university- 
course.  It  is  in  accordance  with  the  Princeton  pro- 
gram that  this  freedom  of  choice  is  granted  to  every 
student  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  half  of  his  un- 
dergraduate course, — at  the  opening  of  his  Junior 
year;  but  the  choice  is  not  allowed  to  lose  itself  in  a 
maze  of  unrelated  subjects.  Here  again  we  believe 
that  there  rests  upon  the  teaching  body  a  peculiar 
obligation  to  prevent  an  unintelligent  and  indiscrimin- 
ate choice  of  studies  which  will  inevitably  result  in  a 
corresponding  dissipation  of  energy.  No  compulsion 
is  laid  upon  the  student  in  the  upper  years  of  his  college 
course  to  enter  any  particular  field  of  study,  or  to  en- 
gage in  any  particular  pursuit,  but  when  according  to 
his  own  free  will  he  decides  upon  the  definite  line  of 
special  work  he  wishes  to  undertake,  we  believe  that 
he  should  give  himself  to  some  systematic  effort  with- 
in a  group  of  cognate  subjects.  We  require  him, 
therefore,  to  give  a  substantial  part  of  his  time  to  the 
courses  of  the  particular  department  which  he  selects. 
Two  courses,  however,  of  the  five  required  in  each  of 
the  upper  years  may  be  chosen  in  any  other  fields  par- 
ticularly appealing  to  his  interests.  Freedom  is  thus 
secured  without  the  danger  of  a  loss  of  power  in  fruit- 
less and  confused  activities. 

While  the  student's  work  is  centered  in  the  region  of 
his  special  interests,  it  must  be  taken  up  in  a  broad 
minded  spirit  which  transcends  the  utilitarian  demands 
of  any  particular  profession  or  technical  pursuit.  The 
undergraduate  courses  are  not  specifically  designed  for 

12 


the  purpose  of  fitting  a  man  directly  for  the  daily  duties 
of  his  future  work  in  Hfe.    They  should  not  attempt  to 
develop  a  particular  talent  for  a  particular  task,  but  the 
whole  man.    No  faculty  of  the  mind  can  be  satisfactor- 
ily trained  in  isolation.     There  must  be  a  symmetrical 
growth  of  all  faculties.     The  high  potential  of  stored 
energy,  moreover,  acquired  in  the  process  of  a  fully 
rounded  development  of  all  a  man's  powers,  lends  an 
increased  momentum  and  driving  force  to  the  partic- 
ular activities  of  his  speciality,  and  thus  allows  many 
lines  of  capability  to  meet  in  one  point  of  practical 
efficiency.     Methods  of  instruction  should  not  narrow 
down  to  an  anticipation  of  the  customary  procedure  of 
the  office  and  counting  room.    The  undergraduate  edu- 
cation should  not  attempt  to  train  specialists,  nor  to 
drill  the  students  in  any  definite  routine,  or  rules  of 
practice.     I't  is  not  rules  of  practice,  but  the  funda- 
mental  principles  and   governing   laws   of   a   subject 
which  are  of  supreme  value  to  one  who  would  win  his 
way  to  the  heart  of  knowledge.     Fit  a  man  for  the 
day's  work,  but  at  the  same  time  equip  him  to  meet  the 
crisis  and  the  emergency  which  the  day's  work  will 
inevitably  bring  forth.     He  who  has  laid  a  broad  and 
secure  foundation  will  have  no  difficulty  in  erecting 
the  superstructure.     Whatever  he  builds  he  will  be 
able  to  build  himself  into  the  work  of  his  hand  and 
brain.    Make  a  man  and  he  will  find  his  work. 

At  this  stage  of  the  developing  mind  every  effort 
should  be  put  forth  to  secure  originality  of  thought. 
By  originality  of  thought  I  do  not  mean  an  original 


13 


contribution  to  the  world  of  knowledgfe  necessarily, 
but  an  individual  appropriation  of  the  truth  which  by 
such  a  process  becomes  peculiarly  one's  own, — the  in- 
dependent ability  to  think  oneself  into  and  through  a 
subject,  to  be  the  master  of  one's  knowledge  and  not 
its  slave,  and  to  acquire  a  critical  sense  of  appreciation 
that  will  nicely  discriminate,  in  the  face  of  the  crucial 
situations  and  the  significant  problems  of  life,  between 
the  things  essential  and  the  things  unessential,  between 
that  which  has  value  and  that  which  has  no  value.  We 
should  not  require  of  our  students  mere  acquisition,  but 
a  high  order  of  reflective  thinking  which  manifests 
itself  in  methodical  habits  of  clear  and  efficient  rea- 
soning, in  breadth  of  vision,  in  an  intellectual  curiosity, 
in  a  tolerant  spirit  and  an  open  mind.  Let  us  not 
standardize  either  the  teacher  or  the  student,  but  allow 
the  full  play  of  fresh  original  impulse. 

Among  all  of  the  forces  which  tend  to  develop  the 
strength  of  personality,  one  of  the  most  efficient  in  our 
experience  at  Princeton  has  been  the  preceptorial 
method  of  instruction.  This  rests  upon  the  principle 
that  nothing  develops  personality  so  fully  and  so  satis- 
factorily as  personality  itself.  To  bring  the  inquiring 
mind  into  daily  contact  with  the  knowledge,  the  art 
and  the  enthusiasm  of  one  who  is  skilled  in  his  own 
special  field  of  attainment,' — this  is  the  supreme  end 
of  education.  The  most  satisfactory  results  are  gained 
when  instruction  becomes  individual.  It  is  only  by  in- 
dividual care  and  guidance  that  the  man  of  one  talent 
can  be  developed  as  well  as  the  man  of  ten  talents. 


14 


The  university  has  also  a  responsibiHty  in  ministering 
to  the  needs  of  the  average  man,  and  enabHng  him  to 
raise  his  factor  of  efficiency  to  its  highest  power.  To 
discover  native  abiHty,  to  guide  it  into  proper  channels; 
to  quicken  ambition,  to  fire  the  imagination,  to  watch 
and  attend  at  the  birth  of  a  soul,  that  is  the  highest 
privilege  and  most  solemn  function  of  the  teacher. 

The  results  which  by  the  four  years  of  training  we 
hope  and  expect  to  produce  I  would  characterize  in  a 
single  sentence:  It  is  a  transformation  of  the  school- 
boy into  a  man  of  the  world, — a  man  who  can  move 
freely  and  familiarly  in  the  midst  of  the  world's 
varied  activities,  who  speaks  its  language,  who  is 
conversant  with  its  manners,  and  who  can  interpret 
its  thought.  Do  not  misunderstand  my  meaning,  how- 
ever ;  it  must  be  the  world  conceived  in  no  narrow  and 
limited  sense  of  the  term.  The  true  man  of  the  world 
is  not  confined  to  the  knowledge  merely  of  his  own 
day  and  generation.  He  must  know  the  world  of  the 
past,  as  well  as  the  world  of  the  present.  For  if  he 
knows  the  past,  he  is  more  capable  of  serving  the  pres- 
ent. He  must  be  free  from  provincialism,  not  only  as 
regards  space  but  also  as  regards  time.  His  knowledge 
should  not  be  restricted  to  any  particular  class  of  pur- 
suits, or  of  interests,  but  should  comprehend  a  cross- 
section  of  all  social  strata  and  embrace  in  intelligent 
and  sympathetic  regard  the  man  whose  life  is  a  fight 
for  bare  existence,  as  well  as  the  one  whom  he  may 
seek  as  a  companion  and  friend.  The  more  profound 
and  widely  extended  his  knowledge  of  the  world,  the 

IS 


more  powerfully  will  he  dominate  it.  Let  the  college 
man  be  a  man  of  the  world,  but  let  his  world  be  the 
world  of  all  time,  of  all  lands,  and  of  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men. 

After  the  four  years  of  the  strictly  college  course 
have  been  completed,  there  should  be  satisfactory  facil- 
ities offered  in  a  university  for  the  varied  pursuits 
of  advanced  students,  where  all  of  the  powers  broadly 
and  profoundly  developing  during  the  preparatory 
years  may  be  concentrated  upon  some  subject  which  is 
to  become  the  absorbing  work  of  life.  This  is  the 
region  where  many  lines  of  effort  converge  in  one 
focal  point  of  heat  and  light;  where  special  scholars 
may  be  trained;  where  the  spirit  of  productive  labor 
may  be  fostered ;  where  they  who  learn  may  become  in 
turn  teachers  and  masters  in  the  school  of  thought; 
where  the  once  faltering  mind  may  finally  speak  in 
tones  of  authority  in  the  great  world  of  knowledge. 
The  buildings  of  our  new  Graduate  College,  now  in 
process  of  construction,  form  a  home  where  our  special 
scholars  through  daily  intercourse  one  with  another 
may  broaden  their  friendships  and  interests,  and  at 
the  same  time  find  themselves  stimulated  in  their  zeal 
for  the  particular  subjects  which  they  are  pursuing. 
There  the  communal  life  of  those  who  have  consecra- 
ted themselves  to  the  sovereign  decrees  of  truth  should 
illustrate  the  devotion,  the  self-sacrifice,  the  austerity 
and  the  enthusiasm  of  scholarship. 

These  buildings  of  the  Graduate  College  are  to 
centre  in  the  Cleveland  Memorial  tower,  a  national  gift 

i6 


presented  by  tliose  who  love  the  man  whose  name  it 
bears,  and  who  wished  gratefully  to  express  their  ap- 
preciation of  his  distinguished  career  as  the  chief 
magistrate  of  our  country  and  as  the  servant  of  the 
American  people.  This  memorial  has  been  placed  most 
appropriately  in  the  midst  of  our  Graduate  College, 
because  this  educational  enterprise  appealed  with  pecu- 
liar force  to  Mr.  Cleveland,  who  in  the  latter  years  of 
his  life  as  Chairman  of  the  Trustees'  Committee  on  the 
Graduate  School,  was  determined  in  the  belief  that 
the  one  who  is  to  become  a  master  in  the  world  of 
knowledge  must  be  most  thoroughly  equipped  for  the 
duties  and  the  privileges  of  his  high  office.  The 
Cleveland  tower,  therefore,  will  stand  not  merely  as  a 
memorial  to  the  statesman  and  the  patriot,  but  also  to 
the  one  whom  we  in  Princeton  will  ever  gratefully 
remember  as  the  wise  and  vigorous  advocate  of  ad- 
vanced scholarship. 

We  hear  much  to-day  of  vocational  studies.  Prince- 
ton has  ever  recognized  the  value  of  vocational  study, 
but  we  would  reserve  the  privilege  of  interpreting  the 
word  vocational  in  its  highest  and  most  significant 
sense.  We  would  give  no  meagre  nor  secondary  sig- 
nificance to  this  word.  The  truly  vocational  study  in 
my  opinion  is  that  which  fits  one  to  respond  intelli- 
gently and  with  free  conviction  to  the  vocation  of 
man, — that  high  calling  which  is  the  summons  to  no 
particular  pursuit  nor  profession,  but  which  is  a  world- 
wide and  common  call  to  every  man  to  take  his  place, 
to  do  his  work,  and  to  play  his  part  in  the  community 

17 


of  his  fellows.  Whatever  may  be  our  special  field  of 
work,  as  men  we  are  to  live  our  lives  within  the  great 
social  organism  of  humanity.  As  Kant  has  splendidly 
put  it,  ''Man's  greatest  concern  is  to  know  how  he  shall 
properly  fill  his  place  in  the  universe  and  correctly 
understand  what  he  must  be,  in  order  to  be  a  man." 
The  years  of  intellectual  discipline  should  create  in 
everyone  who  is  a  sincere  seeker  after  the  truth  a  pro- 
found sense  of  human  obligation,  of  an  obligation 
which  is  the  natural  complement  of  the  privileges 
which  he  has  enjoyed.  While  our  teaching  must  de- 
velop power,  it  must  also  develop  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility for  the  use  of  that  power ; — that  sense  of  respon- 
sibility which  makes  the  scholar  peculiarly  responsive 
to  the  claims  of  his  less  highly  favored  fellows. 

If  there  is  an  especially  favored  class  in  the  world,  it 
is  the  group  of  men  who  have  profited  by  the  privileges 
of  an  education.  It  is  their  duty  to  prove  themselves 
worthy  of  recognition  as  an  aristocracy, — as  an  aristo- 
cracy however  in  the  original  meaning  of  that  word. 
And  their  rule  and  influence  in  the  community  in  which 
they  live  will  show  itself  to  be  the  best  so  far  as  it  is 
determined  by  a  wise  purpose  to  devote  the  power  of 
knowledge  to  the  betterment  of  human  conditions,  and 
to  the  satisfaction  of  human  needs.  It  is  in  no  sense  a 
survival  of  the  fittest,  if  he  who  survives  is  content  to 
survive  alone.  Our  universities  must  teach  to  their 
students  in  season  and  out  of  season  this  lesson  of 
life: — With  all  their  getting  let  them  get  understand- 
ing— that    understanding   of    their    station    and    their 

i8 


duties  which  will  reveal  to  them  this  supreme  law  of 
privilege,  that  he  who  commands  the  sources  of  light 
must  become  a  bearer  of  light  to  others.  The  i>erplex- 
ing  political  questions  of  the  day  arise  largely  out  of 
strained  and  perverted  social  relations  of  man  to  man. 
If  our  social  relations  are  to  be  satisfactorily  adjusted, 
the  privileged  classes  must  give  to  their  less  favorably 
conditioned  fellows  some  wise  thought,  some  measure 
of  sacrifice,  some  active  sympathy  and  consideration, 
and  thereby  make  success  tributary  to  service.  They 
who  are  coming  more  and  more  to  be  regarded  as  the 
natural  leaders  in  this  cause  of  humanity,  and  they  who 
are  under  compulsion  to  lead  by  example  as  well  as  by 
precept  and  suggestion,  are  that  very  class  of  men  who 
have  come  into  possession  of  the  highest  of  all  privi- 
leges,'— the  trained  mind  and  tlie  human  heart. 

We  are  highly  honored  upon  this  occasion  by  the 
presence  of  our  distinguished  guests, — His  Excellency, 
the  President,  and  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States.  Your  illustrious  predecessor  in  office,  Mr. 
President,  the  first  President  of  our  country  and  the 
first  American,  received  in  this  building  the  grateful 
acknowledgements  by  the  Continental  Congress  for  his 
service  in  establishing  the  freedom  and  independence 
of  the  United  States.  For  a  part  of  the  year  1783 
from  June  to  November,  Nassau  Hall  was  the  capitof 
of  the  young  Republic,  and  here  Thomas  Jeflferson, 
James  Madison,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Oliver  Ells- 
worth, and  their  distinguished  colleagues  sat  in  coun- 
sel.    And  now  by  your  presence  on  this  occasion,  Mr. 

19 


President,  and  ]Mr.  Chief  Justice,  you  give  an  enhanced 
vakie  to  our  patriotic  possessions.  The  love  of  country 
has  been  a  central  lesson  in  the  teachings  of  our  Uni- 
versity. Naturally  v^e  can  not  ex[)ect  our  students  gen- 
erally to  attain  to  the  highest  offices  of  public  trust  in 
our  country,  but  v^e  do  expect  every  man  who  bears  the 
Princeton  mark  and  who  is  true  to  the  Princeton  tradi- 
tions to  serve  his  day  and  generation  with  fidelity,  and 
to  bear  upon   his  soul  the  burden  of  humanity. 

This  institution  was  not  founded  in  the  spirit  of  civil 
liberty  alone,  but  in  the  spirit  of  religious  liberty  as 
well,  in  that  Christian  faith  and  hope  which  is  our  most 
treasured  tradition.  Our  fathers  learned  the  lesson 
of  the  Great  Teacher,  that  the  law  of  life  is  a  law  of 
liberty, — a  liberty  which  finds  expression,  however,  in 
a  law  of  service  and  a  law  of  sacrifice.  Our  hope  and 
our  prayer  is  that  their  sons  who  bear  their  names  and 
who  are  of  their  breed  and  blood  may  keep  faith  with 
the  past  while  moving  forward  to  possess  the  new 
lands  of  promise  and  of  plenty. 


20 


OFFICIAL    REGISTER   OF    PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 

[Entered    as   second-class    matter,    December    13,    /voy,    at    the 
Post  Office  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  under  the  Act  of  July  16,  iSv4.] 


Issued    twice   a   month   during   December,   January    and    February 
and  monthly  in  March  and  June. 


These  publications  include : 

The  Catalogue  of  the  University. 

The  Reports  of  the  President  and  the  Treasurer. 

The  descriptive  booklet  of  the  University. 

The  Announcements  of  the  several  Departments,  relating  to 
the  work  of  the  next  year.  These  are  made  as  accurate  as 
possible,  but  the  right  is  reserved  to  make  such  changes  in 
detail  as  circumstances  may  require. 

The  current  number  of  any  of  these  publications  will  be  sent 
upon  application  to  the  Secretary  of  the  University,  Prince- 
ton, New  Jersey. 


